Switch assembly

ABSTRACT

A PLURALITY OF PARALLEL ARRANGED TABLETS FOR SELECTIVELY SWITCHING ANY ONE OF THE PAIRS OF CONTACT MEMBERS ARE INDIVIDUALLY MOVABLE IN A VERTICAL DIRECTION. ONE OF THE TABLETS IS DOWNWARDLY MOVED AND MAGNETICALLY INTERLOCKED AT THE INTERMEDIATE POSITION OF THE SPECIFIED RANGE OF ITS MOVEMENT SO AS TO CLOSE THE CORRESPONDING PAIR OF CONTACT MEMBERS, AND IS RELEASED FROM ITS INTERLOCKED STATE BY FURTHER DOWNWARD MOVEMENT OF ANOTHER TABLET OVER THE RINTERMEDIATE POSITION SO AS TO OPENT THE CORRESPONDING PAIR OF CANTACT MEMBERS.

Feb. 23, 1971 JuNJl oHNo v SWITCH ASSEMBLY Filed Apfn v, 1969 INvL'NfroR.

I 3o 16u10 i2 United States Patent O 3,566,319 SWITCH ASSEMBLY Junji Ohno, Hamamatsu-shi, Japan, assigner to Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaislla, Nakazawa-cho, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka-ken, Japan, a corporation of Japan Filed Apr. 7, 1969, Ser. No. 813,893 Int. Cl. H01h 9/24 U.S. Cl. 335-160 9 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a push-button type switch assembly and more particularly to a switch assembly used mainly in the control equipment of electronic musical instruments.

In the prior art switch assembly of push-button type, one of the push-buttons was mechanically interlocked so as to close the corresponding switching component thereto and simultaneously release another interlocked pushbutton thereby to open the switching component corresponding to the latter button.

Accordingly, the prior art switch assembly cannot be employed in simultaneously interlocking more than two push-buttons in order to close the corresponding switching components, for instance, to close a pair of switching members with separate pair or pairs of switching members kept closed, so that desired signals can be issued for tone-coloring efects during the performance of the electronic musical instrument.

Furthermore, the mechanism of said switch assembly for interlocking and releasing said push-buttons was unavoidably complicated in order to dene the relative movement of said push-buttons.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of this invention is to provide a switch assembly having an improved simple mechanism for interlocking and releasing a plurality of tablets corresponding to a plurality of pairs of contact members respectively.

Another object of this invention is to provide a switch assembly so improved that any one or more pairs of contact members can be selectively closed by the movement of the corresponding tablet or tablets and opened by the further movement of any one of the tablets.

In an aspect of this invention, said switch assembly comprises a plurality of tablets individually movable in a substantially vertical direction and arranged parallel to each other in a horizontal plane, means for urging said tablets in an upward direction, means for dening the upper limit to the movement of said tablets, first coupling members secured to the bottoms of said tablets respectively, a second coupling member disposed at the intermediate position of the specified range of movement of said tablet, said rst and second coupling members being capable of coupling by magnetic attraction, means for urging said second coupling member to the intermediate position in an upward direction, and Contact members corresponding to each of said first coupling members and 3,566,319 Patented Feb. 23, 1971 capable of contacting each other when the rst corresponding coupling member downwardly travels to and rests at the intermediate position, wherein one of said rst coupling members is magnetically coupled to said second coupling member when said first member is moved to the intermediate position by the travel of the corresponding tablet, and automatically released by the relative reduction of the magnetic attraction with respect to the lifting force applied thereto.

In this arrangement, said switch assembly of this nvention may be pro-vided with means for moving the second coupling member downwards so as to release the mutual attachment of the first and second coupling members.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING FIG. l is a perspective view of a switch assembly embodying this invention;

FIGS. 2 to 4 are perspective views of said switch assembly showing the actuated positions of the coupling members involved in said switch assembly; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a switch assembly of another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A switch assembly of this invention illustrated in FIGS. l to 4 first involves a plurality of rectangular tablets 1 individually movable in a substantially vertical direction and arranged parallel to each other in a horizontal plane. As further detailed, each of said tablets 1 has a channel 2 formed at the rearward bottom end thereof and extending in a transverse direction in a manner to be aligned with that of the adjacent tablet, thereby to form a continuous row. And said tablet 1 is supported on an angle frame 3 with the channel loosely engaged with the top edge of the upside rib 3a of the frame 3, so that all the tablets are swingable around the horizontal common axis dened `by said engagement.

In order to urge said tablets 1 substantially in an upward direction, a tension coil spring 4 corresponding to each of said tablets 1 bridges the near end portion of said tablet and the lower side rib 3b of the frame 3. Each of said tablets 1 has a flange 5 integrally formed therewith and extending in the lengthwise direction thereof.

In front of the arrangement of said tablets 1 is disposed a channel-shaped member 6 extending in the transverse direction of said tablets and having upper and lower ribs 6a and 6b between which is positioned the -ange 5 so as to deline the upper and lower limits of the movement of said tablet. Long plates 7a and 7b made of soft material such as a felt or soft synthetic resin are respectively bonded to the lower surface of the rib 6a and the upper surface of the ri-b 6b so as to absorb noises generated by impact between the ange S and said rib.

First coupling members 8 made of permanent magnetic material such as magnetized ferro-material t in with channels 9 formed at the front bottom ends of said tablets respectively. The polar direction of said magnet is preferably set parallel to the lengthwise direction of the tablet.

A second coupling member 10 made of magnetic material such as a ferro-magnetic material is disposed at the intermediate position of the vertical movement of the tablet, and faces the lower surfaces of the rst c0upling members 8. Said second coupling member 10' is swingable around an axis parallel to that of the tablets, namely, is hinged by a long horizontal pin v11 disposed below the member 6 and extending in its lengthwise direction. Said second coupling member 10 is upwardly pressed or urged by means of a compression coil spring 12 to the under surface of a long plate 13, which is bonded to the lower surface of the rib 6b. The upper contact surface of said second coupling member 10i can be closely attached to the surface of each of the first coupling members at the intermediate position of the specified range of movement of said tablets, i.e. at the position Where said second coupling member 10 contacts the long plate 13.

The magnetic attraction appears between the first and second coupling members most strongly when the upper surface of the second coupling member is closely attached to the lower surface of the first coupling member at the intermediate position of the range of movement of said tablets. The magnitude of said magnetic attraction is so defined that when the force of the fingers applied to the corresponding tablet is rapidly removed, the first coupling member may return from the lower limit of the range of movement of said tablets to the upper limit thereof due to the great discharged energies of the springs 4 and 12 caused by the rapidly released force of said fingers and carried beyond said magnetic attraction, or when the force of the fingers is slowly removed from said corresponding tablet, the first coupling member may rest at the intermediate position due to the magnetic attraction overcoming the force of the spring 4, though being moved back from the lower limit to the intermediate position by the forces of the springs 4 and 12.

A pair of contact members 14 corresponding to each of said first coupling members are positioned below each of the tablets 1 in a manner to ,extend in a lengthwise direction of said tablet and spaced from each other in parallel relationship in a vertical plane. Said contact members 14 are secured to the angle frame 3 at their rear ends. At the front ends of said contact members 14 are positioned a pair of contact portions 14a which spatially face each other. Said contact members 14 preferably consist of a spring member and assume the form of a long fiat rectangular plate. On the other hand, a push protrusion 15 is formed at the intermediate ibottom of each of the tablets 1 in a manner vertically to face the front end portions of said contact members 14.

In operation, the desired one of the tablets 1 is downwardly moved to the intermediate position of the specified range of its movement by the force of the fingers so that the first corresponding coupling member is magnetically coupled to the second coupling member against the resistance of the tension spring 4, thereby resting at said intermediate position. If necessary, a plurality of first coupling members can be simultaneously or in turn coupled to the second coupling member by downwardly moving a selected tablet or tablets to the intermediate position. Under such coupled condition, more than one pair of contact members 14 corresponding to the actuated tablet or tablets are mutually closed with the upside contact portion 14abeing pushed to the lower one against the resilient force of the upside one of the contact members 14 by means of the protrusion 15 of the corresponding tablet.

When any desired separate one of the tablets 1 is downwardly moved over the intermediate position and toward the lower limit of the travel of said tablets, the magnetic attraction between the second coupling member and the first coupling member or members previously coupled therewith is reduced by such motion of said desired tablet as Will cause the first coupling member to be inclined relative to the second coupling member and allow the upper contact surface of the latter to be swingably set apart from the lower contact surface of the former. Consequently, the members thus coupled are automatically released bythe relative reduction of the magnetic attraction with respect to the lifting force i.e. the force of the spring 4 applied to the first coupling member, and return to the original position, i.e. the upper limit of the travel of said tablet.

In the operation described above, when the force of the fingers is slowly removed from the tablet previously moved to the lower limit of its travel, the first and second corresponding coupling members automatically return to the intermediate position by the forces of the springs 4 and 12 respectively, and thereafter the first coupling member rests at said position by the magnetic attraction overcoming the force of the spring 4. When the force of the fingers is rapidly released from the lower limit of the travel, the first coupling member returns to the upper limit of the travel due to the great discharged energies of the springs 4 and 12 caused by the rapidly released force of said fingers and carried beyond said magnetic attraction.

In this arrangement, when the first coupling member is downwardly moved to or over the intermediate position, the corresponding pair of contact members 14 are resiliently closed by the pushing of the protrusion 15, and when the first coupling member returns to the upper limit of the travel, said contact members 14 are mutually set apart or disengaged.

Though in this embodiment, the tablets and second coupling member are swingable around their axes, both members may be fabricated so as to be vertically movable with those kept in a horizontal state. Furthermore, conversely to this embodiment, the first coupling members may be made of magnetic material, while the second coupling member may consist of a permanent magnet. In the embodiments, the magnetized ferro-material may be replaced by a resilient rubber magnet so as to eliminate the noises generated by the abutment of the first and second coupling members.

FIG. 5 indicates another embodiment of the switch assembly of this invention distinguished from the previous embodiment by additional means for moving the second coupling member downwards so as to release the couple of the first and second coupling members. Said means comprises a tablet 16 like that of the previous embodiment. While said tablet 16 is not provided with a first coupling member and a protrusion formed at the intermediate bottom thereof, the other parts thereof are the same as those of the tablets 1 of the previous embodiment. Furthermore, said tablet 16 has a member 16A of non-magnetic material for pushing the second coupling member, said pushing member being disposed at the same position where the first coupling member of the previous embodiment is placed.

In operation, when said tablet 16 is downwardly moved over the intermediate position and toward the lower limit of the movement of the tablets 1, the magnetic attraction between the second coupling member and the lirst coupling member or members previously coupled therewith is reduced by such motion of said tablet 16 as will cause the first coupling member to be inclined relative to the second coupling member, with the result that the coupling members thus coupled are automatically released in the same manner as is practised in the case of the first ernbodiment.

When the force of the fingers is removed from the tablet 16, said tablet 16 automatically returns to the upper limit of the travel of the tablets 1 by the spring action of the tension spring 17 bridging the rear end portion of said tablet 16 and the lower side rib 3b of the frame 3 in the same manner as is used in the case of the first embodiment.

What is claimed is:

. 1. A switch assembly comprising, in combination, a plurality of tablets arranged parallel to each other in a horizontal plane and individually movable in a substantially vertical direction, means urging said tablets in an upward direction, means defining the upper and lower limits to the vertical movement of said tablets, a plurality of first magnetic coupling members each secured to the bottom of each tablet and movable therewith, a second magnetic coupling member extending across said tablets and disposed at the intermediate position of the specied range of said vertical movement of each tablet in facing relationship with respect to each of said first magnetic coupling members, said first and second magnetic coupling members being capable of coupling by magnetic attraction, means urging said second magnetic coupling member to the intermediate position in an upward direction, `and contact members corresponding to each of said rst magnetic coupling members and capable of contacting each other when the corresponding tablet downwardly travels to and rests at the intermediate position, wherein one of said Iirst magnetic coupling members is magnetically coupled to said second magnetic coupling member when said rst member is moved to the intermediate position by the downward movement of the corresponding tablet, and automatically released by the relative reduction of the magnetic attraction with respect to the lifting force applied hereto.

2. A switch assembly claimed in claim 1 in which the tablets are swingable around their horizontal common axls.

3. A switch assembly claimed in claim 1 in which the second magnetic coupling member is swingable around its horizontal axis in such a manner that its Contact surface is closely attached to the surface of each of the rst coupling members at the intermediate position.

4. A switch assembly claimed in claim 2 in which the second magnetic coupling member is swingable around its horizontal axis in such a manner that its contact surface is closely attached to the surface of each of the rst magnetic coupling members at the intermediate position.

5. A switch assembly claimed in claim 4 in which the axis of the second magnetic coupling member is arranged in parallel to that of the tablets.

6. A switch assembly claim in claim 1 in which there is provided means for moving the second magnetic coupling member downwards so as to release the mutual attachment of the first and second magnetic coupling members.

7. A switch assembly claimed in claim 1 in which either any one of the irst magnetic coupling members or the second magnetic coupling member consists of a permanent magnet and the other member or members of magnetic material.

8. A switch assembly claimed in claim 1 in which there is provided means for moving the second magnetic coupling member downwards so as to release the mutual attachment of the first and second magnetic coupling members, and either any one of the rst magnetic coupling memmbers or the second magnetic coupling member consists of a permanent magnet and the other member or members of magnetic material.

9. A switch assembly claimed in claim 1 in which either any one of the first coupling members or the second coupling member consists of a resilient rubber magnet and the other member or members of magnetic material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,518,480 8/1950 Lilja 200 67(F) 3,056,001 9/1962 Fichter 200-67(F) 3,243,542 3/1966 Maxwell 335-207 3,284,743 11/1966 spewock 20o-67W) HAROLD BROOME, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 335-206 

